Safety catch for crib drop sides

ABSTRACT

A safety catch for crib drop sides which comprises a pivoted catch having a light spring to tend to move it to latching position and being actuated by another mechanism e.g., a lever which is provided with a relatively heavy spring to tend to hold it in latched position.

United States Patent [191 Bryant [451 Sept. 16, 1975 SAFETY CATCH FORCRIB DROP SIDES [75] Inventor: Robert G. Bryant, Gardner, Mass.

[73] Assignee: Gem Industries Inc., Gardner, Mass.

[22] Filed: Feb. 25, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 445,261

[52] U.S. Cl 292/128; 5/100 [51] Int. Cl. EOSC 19/10 [58] Field ofSearch 292/52, 57, 58,59, 60,

292/61, 305, 306, 126, 128, DIG. 36, DIG. 37, 108; 5/63, 100

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,569,697 l/1926 Barclay292/126 1,961,593 6/1934 Neumherz 5/100 Primary Examiner-Robert L. WolfeAttorney, Agent, or FirmCharles R. Fay

[5 7 ABSTRACT A safety catch for crib drop sides which comprises apivoted catch having a light spring to tend to move it to latchingposition and being actuated by another mechanism e.g., a lever which isprovided with a relatively heavy spring to tend to hold it in latchedposition.

6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTED SEP 1 6 1975 FIG. 6

FIG. 5

SAFETY CATCH FOR CRIB SIDES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION SUMMARY OF THEINVENTION A crib having a drop side with a fixed catch and guide thereonin combination with a pivoted latch member on the stabilizer bar of thecrib, the stabilizer bar usually extending from corner post to cornerpost and comprising an angle iron.

Said latch comprises a pivoted lever or the like having a relativelyheavy spring yieldingly maintaining it in latching position, incombination with a relatively small pivoted latch member on the leverand having a slot to receive the catch on the drop side; said smallpivoted latch member being urged toward latching position by means of alightweight spring, whereby the safety latch is more difficult toactuate than in the past due to the heavy spring on the lever, but thelatch member itself is not under direct influence of said heavy springbut only has a light spring so that it easily moves into latchingposition.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in rear elevationillustrating the new latch mechanism attached to the stabilizer bar;

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation thereof, parts being in sectionlooking in the direction of arrow 2 in FIG. 1, and showing the drop sidelatched;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the drop side unlatched;

FIG. 4 is a similar view showing the drop side in the act of beingraised and the pivoted latch member about to move into the latchedposition shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a view in rear elevation of the catch and guide member whichis mounted on the crib drop side; and

FIG. 6 is a view in side elevation thereof looking in the direction ofarrow 6 in FIG. 5.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Only so much of the invention isillustrated as is necessary to explain the invention. The present devicemay be applied to the lower rail 10 of a conventional crib drop side oldand well known in the art, see co-pending application S.N. 445,259 filedFeb. 25, 1974. Mounted at the rear surface of the drop side rail 10there is a combined catch and guide member shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 whichcomprises essentially a piece of metal bent into the form shown. Ofcourse the member could be made of other materials and in other ways butessentially it comprises a plate 12 which may be provided with aperturesfor screws by which means it is secured to the rail 10 and positioned inplace by an abutment 14. It has a bottom portion 16 which is turned outi.e., to the rear of the rail 10, and terminating in a downturned lipwhich acts as a catch and is indicated at 18. The portion 16 is providedwith an upturned end piece generally indicated at 20 which is providedwith an upwardly opening slot 22. The whole catch and guide unit so fardescribed is fixed and inflexible.

The stabilizer bar of the crib which is old and well known is generallyindicated at 28. In the case shown it is provided with a downwardlyopening U-shaped bracket 30 the arms of which comprise a support for apin 32. The pin forms a pivot for a lever 34 which is the latchactuator. In general such an actuator per se is old and well known andis connected by-a rod 36 toalike lever spaced therefrom, see .theaboveiden'tified-application, so that instead of directlyactuating'leve'r 34, the rod 36 is pressed and pushed for instance in aclockwise direction in FIG. 2, 3, and 4 in order to unlatch the dropside from the catch 18, allowing it to drop according to the arrow inFIG. 3. There is usually a spring applied as for instance as shown at 38to tend to bring the lever 34 back to the normal FIG. 2 and FIG. 4positions. However in the present invention spring 38 is made severaltimes stronger than usual so that it takes an excess of force in orderto push the actuator lever 34 to the rear i.e., clockwise as shown, inorder to release the drop side; and therefore this actuation will nottake place accidentally or nor can it be operated by a small child or ananimal.

The actual latch is generally indicated at 40 and it is pivoted at 42 onlever 34, and is provided with a very light spring 44 arranged to tendto move it in a counterclockwise direction. This latch is provided witha cammed surface 46 and a catch receiving notch 48 which has a camsurface 50.

Assuming the drop side to be latched in its uppermost position accordingto the showing of FIG. 2, a force of 18 20 pounds is applied elg., tothe rod 36 in a clockwise direction, whereupon the catch 40 is cammedaway from catch 18 as shown in FIG. 3 and this is accomplished bycamming it in a clockwise direction against the action of the lightspring 44 until the parts attain the FIG. 3 position, whereupon the dropside will I drop according to the arrow in the figure.

When the drop side is desired to be raised up to the latched position ofFIG. 2, the catch 18 is impinged upon by the cam surface 46 oflatch 40,which is moved thereby in a clockwise direction until notch 48 clearsthe catch 18 whereupon light spring 44 snaps the catch 40 back into thelatched position of FIG. 2.

It is to be noted that at its upper end, the lever 34 has a forward flatedge 35 that prevents it from pivoting farther in an anti-clockwisedirection by abutting the inside of the vertical portion of angle ironstabilizer bar 28. Also, a flat edge at 35 prevents excess pivotingmotion in the opposite direction by abutting the underside of thehorizontal portion of the angle iron.

I claim:

1. In a crib having a stabilizer bar and a drop side, a catch on thedrop side and latching means on the stabilizer bar,

said latching means comprising a lever pivoted to the stabilizer bar, arelatively heavy spring biasing said lever in a direction toward thecatch,

and a latch, said latch comprising a lever, a pivot mounting the latchlever, a light spring tending to urge the latch lever toward the catch,means on said latch lever for receiving said catch and holding the samein latched position, and means adapted to move the latch lever out ofengagement with the catch upon motion of said first lever in thedirection away from the catch,

said levers being on parallel axes and being swingable in parallelplanes.

catch upon motion of the first lever away from the catch.

5. The crib of claim 4 wherein the catch includes a downturned edge lipthat is received in the notch.

6. The crib of claim 5 wherein the notch is directed downwardly and awayfrom the lip.

1. In a crib having a stabilizer bar and a drop side, a catch on thedrop side and latching means on the stabilizer bar, said latching meanscomprising a lever pivoted to the stabilizer bar, a relatively heavyspring biasing said lever in a direction toward the catch, and a latch,said latch comprising a lever, a pivot mounting the latch lever, a lightspring tending to urge the latch lever toward the catch, means on saidlatch lever for receiving said catch and holding the same in latchedposition, and means adapted to move the latch lever out of engagementwith the catch upon motion of said first lever in the direction awayfrom the catch, said levers being on parallel axes and being swingablein parallel planes.
 2. The crib of claim 1 including a cam surface onthe latch lever camming the same away from the catch upon raising thedrop side.
 3. The crib of claim 1 wherein the means on the latch leverto receive the catch is a notch.
 4. The crib of claim 3 including a camsurface on an edge of the notch to move the latch lever away from thecatch upon motion of the first lever away from the catch.
 5. The crib ofclaim 4 wherein the catch includes a downturned edge lip that isreceived in the notch.
 6. The crib of claim 5 wherein the notch isdirected downwardly and away from the lip.